Description of Greece

​The Lacedaemonians were grieved by the defeat that had occurred, since many worthy of mention had died in the battle, and it also occurred to them to be despondent regarding the entire hope of the war; and for this reason they sent sacred envoys to Delphi. When these arrived, the Pythia gave them this oracle: “Phoebus does not command thee to pursue only the deeds of battle with thy hand, but by deceit the people hold the Messenian land, and by the very same arts by which it was acquired shall it be captured.”

​In response to this, though the kings and ephors were eager, they were unable to devise any stratagem. But, imitating the deeds of Odysseus at Ilium, they sent a hundred men to Ithome under the pretense of being deserters, in order to find out what was being planned; and indeed, the banishment of these men had been publicly decreed. When they arrived, Aristodemus immediately sent them away, saying that the crimes of the Lacedaemonians were novel, but their stratagems were ancient.

​The Lacedaemonians, having failed in this attempt, tried in the second place to break up the alliance of the Messenians. But when the Arcadians spoke against it—for the envoys had come to them first—they thus stayed their march toward Argos. When Aristodemus learned of what was being done by the Lacedaemonians, he himself also sent messengers to inquire of the god, and the Pythia gave them this oracle:

” The god grants thee the glory of war; but beware lest by deceit the crafty, hostile ambush of Sparta arise superior. For indeed Ares shall possess their well-fitting arms and the crown of dances as bitter inhabitants, when, by the coincidence of two events, the hidden ambush emerges. But this sacred day shall not see this fulfillment, before those things that have altered their nature reach their destined end.” At that time indeed, Aristodemus and the seers had no experience to interpret what had been said; but not many years later, the god was destined to make it clear and bring it to fulfillment.

​Other things of the following sort were happening to the Messenians at that time. While Lyciscus was living as a resident alien in Sparta, it happened that his daughter, whom he had taken with him when fleeing from Messene, died. As he went frequently to the daughter’s tomb, some Arcadian horsemen lay in ambush and captured him; and when he was brought up to Ithome and stood before the assembly, he defended himself, saying that he had not withdrawn to betray his country, but because he believed what had been said by the seer regarding his daughter, that she was not his legitimate child.

​Though he made this defense, they did not believe he was speaking the truth until the woman who then held the priesthood of Hera came into the theater. She confessed that she had given birth to the child and had secretly given her to Lyciscus’ wife to substitute; “and now,” she said, “I have come to reveal the secret and to cease from being priestess myself.” She said this because it was established in Messene that if any of the children of a priestess or even of a priest died before them, the priesthood transferred to another. Believing therefore that the woman was speaking the truth, they chose another woman to serve as priestess to the goddess in her place, and declared that Lyciscus had acted excusably.

​After this they resolved—for the twentieth year of the war was approaching—to send again to Delphi to inquire about victory. When they inquired, the Pythia gave this oracle: “To those who first set up tripods around the altar of Ithomaian Zeus, twice five in number of tens, the deity gives the Messenian land with the glory of war. For Zeus has so nodded. But deceit puts thee ahead, and behind is retribution, and thou mightest deceive even the divinely inspired. Act as destiny requires; but ruin comes to some before others. “ ​When they heard this, they thought that the oracle was in their favor and was granting them the victory in the war; for they did not think that, while they themselves held the temple of Ithomates within their wall, the Lacedaemonians could anticipate them in setting up the offerings. And they indeed intended to construct wooden tripods, for they had no money left to make bronze ones; but one of the Delphians reported the oracle to Sparta. When they heard it, they were unable to devise anything clever in public, but Oebalus, ​who in other respects was not among the distinguished, but showed himself clever in judgment, having fashioned a hundred tripods of clay as best he could, hid them in a bag and carried nets along with them, appearing to be a hunter. Since he was unknown even to most of the Lacedaemonians, he easily escaped the notice of the Messenians; and mixing himself with country folk, he entered Ithome with them, and as soon as night fell, having dedicated these clay tripods to the god, he went off back to Sparta to report to the Lacedaemonians.

​When the Messenians saw this, they were greatly troubled, and suspected—as indeed was the case—that it was from the Lacedaemonians; but Aristodemus nevertheless comforted them by saying other things appropriate to the circumstances, and set up the wooden tripods—for they had already been made—around the altar of Ithomates. And it also happened that the seer Ophioneus, who had been blind from birth, recovered his sight in a manner indeed most contrary to expectation among men; for a severe pain in the head seized him, and from this he recovered his sight.